One well-known internet marketing technique includes the use of pay-per-click, where advertisers pay a fee each time an advertisement is clicked so that the user is directed to the advertiser's website, for example, in response to a search engine keyword search. Another marketing technique includes the use of website banner advertisements, where advertisers pay a fee for posting an advertisement for display at a website often based, in part, upon the volume and nature of user traffic on that website.
Mobile codes or so-called “two-dimensional’ barcodes such as “Quick Response” (QR) codes, are also being used in mobile marketing campaigns. For example, an advertiser may mark a product or advertisement with a QR code containing a Uniform Resource Locator (URL). In the case of a “direct mobile code”, when an image of the QR code is read or scanned using a device such as a mobile device or “smartphone” equipped with a camera, scanner, or related sensing device, the URL is decoded and output to that device's, or a device application's, internet browser or the like to connect to the designated web site via the URL identified in the QR code. Information from the website related to the product or advertisement is then transmitted back to the originating device and displayed on the originating device.
In another example, the mobile code may only contain an index identifier of the object of interest, a product or advertisement, instead of a full URL, often referred to as “managed mobile code.” When the index is decoded, it is incorporated as an element of a URL that is then formatted for a predetermined or designated web address by software stored at and executed by the originating device, e.g., the user's smartphone, laptop, or electronic notebook. This URL is then transmitted electronically by the device to the designated website. A process at the website may parse the index from the URL and use the index value to look up one or more associated web addresses. The designated website can then look up and send this associated information back to the originating device, which displays the information. Alternatively, the designated website can send the associated web addresses back to an originating device with a “redirect command,” whereby the originating device itself may then retrieve the associated information from the designated address. Once this information is retrieved, it is then displayed on the originating device's display.